At Bani Walid party, Libya fighters look to future

"I used to drive a 1990 Mazda," the young Libyan revolutionary says through child-like giggles, hurtling into the heart of battle at the wheel of a new 4-by-4 looted from slain soldiers of Muammar Gaddafi. "Look at me now."

But there was to be no more fighting for Ali that day. Bani Walid, one of only two towns in Libya that had still been resisting the men who toppled one of the world's most recognisable leaders, had fallen.

The 23-year-old could not believe his eyes as he pulled the car into the town's central square.

Hundreds of fighters, most of them young men like himself, ran around streets they had tried to reach for six weeks, shouting, singing, and calling out, "God is greatest".

They unleashed thousands of celebratory bullets into the air with machine-guns and a few guffawing fighters even recklessly sent rocket-propelled grenades whizzing off into the distance.

Several men spun anti-aircraft guns around and around, filling the skies with smoke and flames and ammo as another fighter nearby sent a car skidding in circles until, finally, he flipped it over on its roof.

"Hey, Gaddafi! Look at this! Screw you, Gaddafi!" a young fighter screamed as he ran past.

Ali stood with his hands on his head in amazement. "Crazy boys," he shouted, laughing.